Apple has apparently wrapped the development of Mac OS X 10.6, better know as Snow Leopard, allegedly releasing the final build to manufacturing. The rumor mill says the software will arrive next Friday, beating Apple’s self-imposed September target. The company is pitching Snow Leopard as the “world’s most advanced, perfectly optimized” operating system, confirming its speed as the killer feature. Will this, and an unusually low $29 price point, be enough to lure you into upgrading?

If you believe a Mac4Ever report (original in French, Google translation), OS X Snow Leopard, Apple’s upcoming OS X revision focused on speed and performance, has reached the golden master status. Multiple sources have marked the version 10A432 as the build that’s now being pressed on DVDs. Most recent developer build, posted three weeks ago, carries the version number 10A421a.

Snow Leopard features several new technologies specifically designed to take full advantage of multi-core CPUs (GrandCentral) and beefy GPUs (OpenCL acceleration), in addition to the top-to-bottom 64-bit code and hardware-accelerated QuickTime X media subsystem borrowed from the iPhone OS. Apple claims over 90 percent of the 1,000 OS X projects have been re-written from the ground up.

The operating system will come with a built-in Microsoft Exchange support, possibly increasing the Mac appeal in corporate environments. Although Apple insists that Snow Leopard “pauses on innovation,” a number of under-the-hood tweaks and subtle changes have yielded new capabilities that should satisfy feature-hungry users, revealed in our extensive overview (here and here).

QuickTime 7 and Rosetta components have been removed to Optional Installs to reduce user confusion.

Even the installer is optimized

Even the installer has been heavily optimized, resulting in up to 45 percent faster installation that takes up less than half the disk space, freeing about 6GB. For instance, printer drivers are no longer copied on your hard drive. Instead, Snow Leopard retrieves the latest drivers on demand, through the Software Update mechanism that automatically kicks in when you plug in a new printer.

The installer copies installation files to your hard drive temporarily in order to minimize data transfer from optical media during the installation. If a power outage interrupts your installation, the installer will start again without losing any data.

It also checks your applications to make sure they’re compatible, moving known incompatible apps into an “Incompatible Software” folder, and automatically selects QuickTime 7 if you install the OS on a Mac with a registration key for Quicktime 7 Pro.

According to AppleInsider, the installer moves Rosetta (PowerPC emulation for Intel Macs) and QuickTime 7 to the Optional Installs section to “reduce confusion,” noting that these options are accessible via Disk Utility included on the installation DVD. MacMagazine has several screenshots (original in Brazilian, Google translation) of the installation process, including a video posted below.

Another cool feature: If you attempt to re-install OS X 10.6 on a Mac that contains an updated 10.6 version (for instance, 10.6.1), all updated system files will be preserved, resulting in an up-to-date OS rather than 10.6.0 version that needs software updates.

Snow Leopard due next Friday?

Apple pledged to launch Snow Leopard sometime in September, ahead of Microsoft’s Windows 7 scheduled for the October 22 arrival. However, multiple sources claim that Apple could launch the software next Friday, August 28, like MacDailyNews and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. While no hard evidence supports this, many sources indicate that Snow Leopard has been released to manufacturing.

For example, GearLive discovered a new installer icon from the final build, shown in this article, departing from the previous space-themed artwork. History taught us that the installer icon usually reflects the design of retail packaging and install disc.

MacRumors has alleged images that show the retail packaging and installation disc following graphical motif of the installer icon consistently. The packaging boasts a new “The world’s most advanced operating system. Perfectly optimized.” tagline, in addition to the 64-bit design and Exchange compatibility highlighted on the back of the box.

If you are running OS X 10.5 (Leopard), you’ll be able to upgrade to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard for just $29. If you are running an OS X version prior to Leopard, you’ll have to purchase the pricier $169 Mac Box Set or the $229 Mac Box Set Family Pack that includes licenses for up to five users. Both products include OS X Snow Leopard, in addition to iLife ‘09 and iWork ‘09.

Those who bought a qualifying Mac after the WWDC announcement can order Snow Leopard through Apple’s Up-to-Date program for only $9.95 (free shipping) plus applicable sales tax. Snow Leopard is already Amazon’s strongest-selling software product, taking the #1 spot from Windows 7. Snow Leopard is the first-ever OS X release that’s exclusively engineered for Intel-based Macs, leaving a minor portion of PowerPC users in the dark.

Are you excited about Snow Leopard? Will you upgrade when Apple releases its new cat out of the bag? Does “pausing on innovation” in favor of a speedier performance make sense to you? Or perhaps Apple will regret creating an opportunity for Windows 7 to advertise more substantial innovations for end-users? What sold you to Snow Leopard, if anything? Do share your opinion in the comments.

Reader Comments

Derek

I skipped OSX 10.5 and am still running 10.4 on my newest (intel) Mac, so it’s time to upgrade. I was holding off all thru 10.5, hoping that the next OS would optimize more, and I am very please to hear that it does, especially after a Genius Bar tech told me that 10.5 needed almost twice the system resources of 10.4! I’m disappointed to hear that the $29 price is only for 10.5 users, but it makes sense. I think I’ll probably wait a month or so for them to work out initial bugs, then it’s Snow Leopard for me!

regulas

@Derek You did not miss anything except maybe Time Machine backup but I prefer making a secure .dmg file of my home folder to a external HD for backup anyway.
Leopard was Apples Vista, bloated and slow. Tiger was XP and I liked it better too.
I see a 2D dock, good. The 3D one in Leopard sucks, did a hack to go back to a 2D and auto-hide it.
Put a matte screen option for the 13″ Macbook Pro Apple! I hope one of your people who matters read this.

Michael

The Snow Leopard website says “Coming September 2009.”
Apple isn’t joking. It’s going to be released in September 2009.